My dog has seasonal skin allergies. Is Apoquel safe or are there alternatives?

Question

Rocco's seasonal allergies mostly affect his skin. He was on Benadryl until that stopped working, then Zyrtec until that stopped. I've gotten multiple recommendations to put my dog on Apoquil, but I've read that it suppresses the immune system and there are many other bad side effects. Is this the best medicine for his seasonal allergies? Is there anything else that would help him that is more natural or isn't so harsh?? Pet's info: Dog | American Pit Bull Terrier | Male | neutered | 6 years and 7 months old | 80 lbs

Susan England-Foster · Accepted Answer

It is hard to really answer your question about Rocco beccause many factors go into allergies. There are three types of allergies in dogs - this inculdes food, environmental and flea. I would highly recommend apply flea prevention every 30 days to Rocco even if you do not see fleas. When a dog is allergic to fleas it only takes 1 bite to make them very itchy. It can be difficult to tell the difference between food and environmental allergies. I typicallly do not start apoquel unless the patient has been on a food trial. This is where they feed a prescritpion food ONLY for 12 plus weeks. Over the counter food can be contaminated with proteins and will not work to determine a food allergy. If we have proven the patient only has an environmental allergy than apoquel can be a good medication to use. However it is only going to work ifthe skin does not have any type of infection present (like bacteria or fungal and also ear infections). Apoquel does suppress the immune system to help decrease the itchy. Typically this is not harmful for most dogs. However I would recommend consulting your vet fist to make sure nothing in Roccos medical history would make him a bad canidate for apoquel and it is a proper drug for him. Hope that helps. You can aways try a pet coach consult if you need/want more information.

My dog has seasonal skin allergies. Is Apoquel safe or are there alternatives?

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